Primary school students sit day-two of the P.S.E.

Primary school students throughout the country today completed day-two of the Primary School Examinations. The two subject areas were in Social Studies and Math one and two papers. Math two, which involves problem solving and tested their knowledge of logics, is considered one of the most difficult exams and the results are often dismal. News Five’s Isani Cayetano was back on the P.S.E. trail and revisited E.P. Yorke where a number of students from other schools were sitting the exams.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

Day Two of the annual Primary School Examinations was held today, with standard six students across the country being assessed in Math and Social Studies. The second round of testing saw a little over seven thousand children returning to the exam rooms, after a month of preparation for the remaining subjects.

Lindsey Gomez, Bethel Primary School

Lindsey Gomez

“It was kinda easy. Some of it was hard, some of it was easy because we are used to it because we take Saturday classes and we study on a daily basis so it was kind of easy.”

Isani Cayetano

“What about the Social Studies, were there any questions about Belize that you did not know?”

Lindsey Gomez“No, all of them I knew.”

Isani Cayetano

“Now that you’ve sat both days of the exam do you think you have performed well enough to come out on top in terms of the P.S.E.s?”

Lindsey Gomez

“Yes sir?”

Isani Cayetano

“And where would you go after this, in terms of your high school choice?”

Lindsey Gomez

“Well I really don’t know. I haven’t decided yet.”

Kia McKenzie

And while Lindsey may be unsettled on her choice of secondary school, Kia McKenzie of All Saints Anglican Primary School says that the exams today were relatively easy with the exception of math, of course.

According to Itinerant Resource Officer Lisa Clare, at the Exams Unit, the papers are designed to test the student’s knowledge of logical processes. The Social Studies paper, she says, is the least difficult of all exams.

Lisa Clare, Itinerant Resource Officer, Exams Unit

“The application paper which is the paper two is always perceived to be the more difficult paper because children actually have to show processes as to how they arrive at the answers. So you find that most students find that particular paper difficult to do.”

Isani Cayetano

Lisa Clare

“How about the Social Studies exam in terms of the types of questions asked and in terms of the overall proficiency either based on a trend over the years?”

Lisa Clare

“Social Studies for the past number of years has always been the better of the four papers. Basically, we ask questions about resources, government and culture, transportation and communication and organizations and there are different levels for different skills that we target when we ask the questions and pretty much children seem to be able to handle that paper.”

Results for the P.S.E.s are due in early June. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.

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